Crayon Brands Heat Stress Test ~ Will They Melt in an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox?

There's a great variety of prices of crayons, especially at back to school sale time from fifty cents down to a penny.  So many choices...how to choose!  We want to send nice things to the children in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, but we don't want to spend money just to get a name brand.  So I decided to do some tests on various crayon brands from my local stores.  (This post contains marked affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links, that is how I afford the time to write these posts, and do these tests)

We tested five crayon brands for both coloring quality and resistance to heat (that they might experience in transit).  The brands we tested were Crayola, which you can normally get for $0.50 at Walmart & Dollar General during back to school sales,  Cra-Z-Art, normally $0.25 during back-to-school sales at Walmart,  Playskool which can be found at Dollar Tree (affiliate) and other dollar stores for $1, and  Dollar General offers a brand I*Magine often 3 for $1 or $0.33/$0.34 a piece at Back-to-school sales.  Also at Office Depot I got some Scholastic brand for $0.01.   All those prices are for 24 count except Playskool that is 36.  For those who are concerned about manufacture location:  most are made in China, Crayola is made in the USA or Mexico, you'll have to check the package.

First, how do they color?

You can see images and thoughts of our coloring test post here: Crayon Brands Coloring Test

Second, how do they hold up to heat?

UPDATE: Just wanted to be clear, OCC USA, encourage us to send them. They do not have any brand preferences, and has not had problems with any melting.  So, this is just extra info if it is still something that worries you, or you want reassurance-my research shows most hold up quite well at expected transit/storage temperatures validating OCC USA's stance. 

My understanding is that Australia & New Zealand have had so many problems with crayons melting in OCC shoeboxes, that they've added them to the "do no send"

Crayon Brands Coloring Test for Consideration in Packing In Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

At this time of year there are a great variety of prices of crayons at back to school sales:  from fifty cents to as inexpensive as a penny.  So many choices...how to choose!  We want to send nice things to the children in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, but we don't want to spend money just to get a name on the box.  So I decided to do some tests.

We tested five brands for both coloring quality and resistance to heat (that they might experience in transit).  The brands we tested were Crayola, which you can normally get for $0.50 at Walmart & Dollar General during back to school sales,  Cra-Z-Art, normally $0.25 during back-to-school sales at Walmart,  Playskool which can be found at Dollar Tree and other dollar stores for $1, and  Dollar General offers a brand I*Magine often 3 for $1 or $0.33/$0.34 a piece at Back-to-school sales.  Also at Office Depot I got some Scholastic brand for $0.01.   All those prices are for 24 count except Playskool that is 36.  For those who are concerned about manufacture location:  most are made in China, Crayola is made in the USA or Mexico, you'll have to check the package.  (This post contains marked affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links)

Now crayons exact make up may change from year to year, or from batch to batch, especially cheaper ones that may have less stringent controls, but this is the best info we can give you.

Edit to note: these were tested in 2016-how different brands make things can change over time.

First, how do they color?

Everyone has different preferences in coloring tools.  For instance, I prefer gel pens and hate ball point pens, but other members of my family like ball point and don't